


Tails from the Compound

by Earthsbestdefender



Series: My happy place [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Animals, Anxiety Attacks, Fluff, Language, Mild Angst, Mild Blood, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Steve has a dog, Tony has a cat, tony is a father
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 07:54:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earthsbestdefender/pseuds/Earthsbestdefender
Summary: The Avengers have pets (some of them anyway)





	1. Buried

**Author's Note:**

> Starts in between AOU and CW. There is a good amount of non canon stuff. I will try to make it all make sense.

"Boss, there I just picked up a life signature in the basement," Friday spoke just as Tony was turning to leave the Hydra wearhouse.

"I thought we got everyone," Tony grumbled. The mission had been a rescue mission to free slaves that Hydra had been keeping.

"Sensors indicate-"

"I'm on it! I'm on it!" Tony interrupted the AI. He was not happy about having to go back to the disgusting creepy ass basement. It gave him shivers thinking about it. That was where they did their experiments.

"Stark? We are supposed to be clearing out. What's taking so long?" Steve's voice came over the comms.

"I gotta go back. We missed someone," Tony explained as he made his way to the entrance of the basement.

"Alright, but hurry it up. I don't like the thought of any of us being in there alone."

Tony gulped as he opened the door. 

"Trust me Cap, I don't like the idea of going back in that basement either. I am not going to linger."

He opened the door and made his way down the stairs. Every step he took filled him with more and more dread and gloom. The air was thick and rank with the smell of death, and decay. Somehow the horrible rotten stench had made its way through his helmet.

"Gah, I hate this place," He grumbled, "Alright Fri where is our strangler?"

"Far corner," The AI replied. Tony made his way through the shelves and tables of horrible tools that had probably been used as torture implements. He tried to ignore the stains on the floor that were almost definitely blood stains. Tony finally made it through the maze of shelves to the corner that Friday had directed him to.

"What the hell Friday? There is no one here!" Tony spat. This was no good.

"To you're left boss."

Tony turned to find two green glowing eyes gleaming out at him from a dark shelf. He took a startled step back and raised a gauntlet then he realized that it was a kitten. He lowered his hand, and stepped closer. The cat shrank back.

"No, no, it's okay buddy, I'm nice!" Tony chuckled a little, and took off his helmet so the kitten could see his face. He almost puked as the full force of the smell of the basement hit him like a punch in the gut.  The light from his arc reactor lit the corner just enough so Tony could still see, "See I'm a human."

The kitten sniffed at the hand he had extended. It's black fur was dirty and unkept, and he could see the poor things ribs. Hydra had crossed a line on this one. Tony was about to grab the cat when multiple deafening booms shook the building.

"STARK GET OUT!!!" 

Tony didn't have time to react before a shock wave slammed him against the wall, and the whole sealing came crashing down.

 

The human smelled of blood and sweat. The kitten didn't like it. He climbed his way through the rocks to the human. The human  _had_ smelled nice. Now he didn't.  The kitten approached the man who was lying unconscious, but hopefully not dead, next to a wall. He didn't smell dead. The kitten climbed next to his head. Blood was slipping in a slow trickle from a cut on the side of his head. 

_"wake up!"_ he mewed at the man. He didn't move. The kitten lashed his tiny tail and began licking his cheek. He stopped after a few seconds. Human blood was no good. To strong. To metalic. He would need to wake him up some other way. Rubbing on him! That would work. The kitten set to work rubbing his body along the the man's face in a desperate attempt to wake him up. He hissed in annoyance as the human still didn't react. He flattened his ears, and put his paws on the man's face. This would work. He began neading the man's face with his tiny baby claws. Not enough to do more damage, just enough to wake him up.

"Agh... c'mmon..." The man mumbled and lifted a hand in an attempt to shoo him away. The kitten didn't back down. He needed the man to wake up all the way. The kitten mewed loudly and rubbed his head on the man, "Alright buddy... Imup..."

The kitten sat back and watched the man slowly snap out of his haze. He slowly tried to sit up, but flopped back with a cry of pain. It took the kitten a second to realize what was wrong. Then he saw it. How had missed the massive piece of concrete laying across his abdomen? That was problem.

 

It took Tony a few seconds, after his attempt to sit up, to realize that there was a huge slab of cement crushing him. It actually explained quite a lot, like how hard it was to breath.

_"Mrrrow,"_ The kitten mewed and gave him lick on the cheek.

"Thanks bud..." He managed to cough. The crushing weight on top of him was getting to be to much to bare. He needed to get it off, and he needed to do it without accidently shovinging it onto his legs.

"Alright cat... out of the way. You don't need to be getting crushed..." Tony scooted the cat away from him, and reached his hands under the cement slab. The suit would help manage the weight. He pushed up on the slab, every muscle in his body flexing and tightening with the strain. Pain exploded through his body, like something was being tugged out of him. Every instinct told him to stop. To drop the cement. To scream. He didn't. He continued lifting with every ounce of strength he had.

"NRAAGHAA!!!" Tony growled and managed to shoved the cement away. He sat panting with small shallow breaths. Something hot and wet was running down his abdomen under the suit. He glanced over at the slab of cement that had been pinning him down; two pieces of rebar were sticking out of the part that had been on top of him. He squinted at them, the light from his arc reactor illuminated them enough for him to make out the blood dripping from the their dull rusty ends. He stared at them in a haze of confusion. Why was there blood? Whose blood was that?

It was his blood... His blood was slowly dripping out of two puncture holes in suit. Dizziness hit him like a wave and he flopped on his back. Something warm and rough lapped against the side of his face.

"Mrrow!" The kitten mewed loudly in his ear, and then went back to licking him.

 

Stay awake! The kitten willed the man to stay awake. He liked the human. He wanted him to live, and that wasn't going to happen unless they could get out of here, and they could only get out of here if he stayed awake.

"Alright cat... gimme a sec..." The man moaned quietly. He knew that if he gave the guy the chance to pass out he most likely would not wake up again. The smell of blood was getting stronger by the second.

"No stay awake!" The kitten growled and nipped the man's ear. He was pretty sure the human couldn't understand him, but the nip would surely get the message across.

"Mmkay... fine..." The human murmured and opened his eyes slowly, "Immawake..."

The man sat up slowly letting out a soft cry of pain as he did so. He took in small short gasps, and sat still for a minute with his hand clutching his abdomen.

 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut and fought back the new wave of dizziness that pushing itself into his mind.

"Mrrow!" The cat bumped its head against his armored hand. Tony sighed, and as he did so the blood slipped out a little thinker under the suit. 

Shallow breaths... Take shallow breaths. 

"Alright cat, wanna see something cool?" Tony asked weakly. The small black cat tilted its head questioningly, "I'll take that as a yes..."

Tony sucked in and opened his suit. He stifled a cry of pain as small pieces of jagged metal scrapped along his abdomen. The cat moved closer to him and gave him a reassuring lick on his now bare  hand.

"Thanks bud..." Tony mustered a smile, "I can't just be calling you "cat" now can I?"

The kitten mewed in agreement. 

"How about Midget?" Tony knew the name was very unoriginal, but he honestly couldn't force his mind to come up with something better.

The kitten let out a purr of approval.

"Alright then Midget, you're gonna have to wait just a little bit longer to get out of here..." Tony struggled with his words. Hot blood ran in between his fingers, "I gotta slow down this bleeding."

The cat sat down and tucked his tail around his paws. The name really was fitting. He was tiny.

 

The human had given him a name. The human was officially  _his_ human. The human being his ment that it was now Midget's job to take care of him, and keep him safe. 

Midget watched as his human slowly pulled his shirt off, and tied it around his bleeding abdomen. He didn't think that it would really help much, but it was probably better than nothing.

"Alright Midge got any idea how to get out of here?" 

Midget surveyed the area around them, and flattened his ears in disappointment. They seemed pretty trapped. There was a lot of rubble around them, and above them. He wasn't sure if there was a way to get his human out. His human was far too big to fit through many of the small spaces. He also wasn't sure if the man had the strength and energy to make it to the surface.

 

It had been three hours since the building had come down, and there was still no word from Stark. 

"Rogers!" Steve flinched at the angry bark that sounded behind him, "What the hell did you fuck up?"

Steve took a deep breath and turned to face Tony's angry girl friend who had apparently just arrived.

"Hello Pepper," Steve tried to muster a smile, but his effort fell flat, and he melted a little under Pepper's sweltering glare.

"What. Happened?" The woman demanded, "And why is he still in there?"

"Hydra set the building to collapse, and Tony went back for someone we missed," Steve explained as best he could. He had a feeling that if Stark hadn't found his own way out yet, he wouldn't. He wasn't even sure if the golden avenger had survived the building collapse.

"Why don't you have him out yet?" Pepper snapped.

"We don't know where he is, and moving the rubble is dangerous, and could end up doing more damage."

Pepper crossed her arms and turned her glare to the massive pile of rubble. He knew that she knew the same thing he did. It would take days to uncover all of the rubble, and by then would it even be worth it?

"We have to get him out..." The woman's voice was now soft and frightened, instead of sheathing. Steve sighed and rested a hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

"We will. Tony will be fine."

 

 

 


	2. Rest

Midget stopped and turned around to make sure his human was still following him. The man was moving very slowly, and really didn't seem like he would make it much farther. He flattened his ears in frustration; they hadn't even made through the basement. The man pulled himself over a pillar of cement, and flopped down on the ground next to him. He coughed and closed his eyes.

"No." Midget mewed and lickked his cheek.

"Don't worry buddy I'm not going back to sleep," His human mumbled quietly, and stroked the back of Midget's head with a shaky and bloodied hand, "I just need a second..."

Midget decided to go scout a head while his human took a breather. He clawed his way up onto the next collapsed pillar of cement, only to discover that they were indeed trapped. The entrance to the stairs was buried in rubble. Midget knew he would be able to get through, but his human would not, and he was not leaving him. Anger prickling in his fur, Midget turned around and head back to his human. 

The man didn't appear to have moved at all; he still lay on his back bringing in tiny shallow gasps. Midget could practically hear the struggle and pain in his every breath. He let out a mew of dismay at his human's worsening state.

"...hey bud... wheredyou go...?" His human coughed. His tone was dangerously low. Midget gave his bloody hand a lick, "you should get out of here..."

Midget flattened his tiny ears in disgust at the suggestion of him leaving.

"I'm not getting outa here without help..." The man choked out, "Go on pal... get outta here..."

Midget was offended that his human thought he would obey. He wasn't going anywhere. Midget climbed onto his chest and began licking his chin.

"Midge... you gotta....g.." He didn't finish his last plea for Midget to leave, before passing out. Midget tried biting his chin, and clawing him gently to wake him, but he didn't stir. He finally gave up and curled into a small ball protectively on his human's chest. He would wait there with him until someone found them.

 

"Steve we found him on the sensors!" Natasha shout as she ran toward Steve and Pepper.

"Where?" Pepper demanded.

"Near the stairwell leading to the basement," Natasha answered, "we're running through options, but there are about 100 tons of rock in between us and him so it could be a while"

Steve and Pepper followed Natasha back to where Clint had a computer set. A team of search and rescue professionals were already there going over possible ways to clear the rock without compromising the structure.

"See I told you we'd get him," Stave gave a Pepper a reassuring punch in the shoulder.

"We don't have him yet," Pepper replied, her voice was shaky and uncertain.

"Alright we have a plan, but it probably take a few hours to get all of the rock cleared, especially in the dark," One of the rescue guys informed them as they approached.

 

Midget stayed curled perfectly still on his human's chest, even as the ceiling creaked and groaned, threatening to collapse on them. His instincts told him he wasn't safe. They told him to run, to escape, to go far away, but he ignored them. He stayed where he was, and lay silently listening the faltering heartbeat of his human. Dust crumbled from above all around them; Midget just curled into a tighter ball and ignored the rattling and cashing sounds making their way to his ears from above. A wet hand brushed his fur and he perked up. His human was awake enough to stroke his fur.

"Thanks for sticking around..." His human whispered to him. The man's gentle stokes reassured Midget that he had made the right choice in staying, but after a long time the man's hand finally stopped stroking his fur, and just rested on his back shaking slightly. Midget nestled himself deeper under the hand and closed his eyes. He let out a faint yawn. He was very tired, maybe he would sleep too.

 

The heavy crash of stone woke Midget from his deep nap; his human's chest was still rising and falling weakly beneath him. Another loud crash echoed through the basement. Midget was tempted to go see what it was, but he didn't want to leave his weak vulnerable human alone. There were a few more muffled crashes and then loud voices, and beams of light filled the air. Help. Help had arrived. Someone climbed over one of the pillar of stone.

"I found him! He's over here!" the woman who shouted wreaked of fear and stress. She rushed over to them, "Tony! Baby!"

She ignored Midget as she examined him, "We're going to need something to carry him out on!"

More people rushed over and surrounded them. Midget closed his eyes, and let a pur. They were safe.

"Alright guys move him on the count of three."

"One, Two, Three," Midget had to dig his claws in a little to keep from slipping off, as they moved his human. The man's hand fell away as they moved him leaving Midget exposed.

"Someone grab that cat," A voice ordered, and before he knew what was happening a hand snatched him away from his human. He hissed and squirmed in dismay. He had been keeping him safe! He needed to stay with him! What if he woke back up and needed comforting? Midget tried desperately to reach behind him and claw who ever it was holding him by his scruff. He let out a loud yowl, and squirmed harder as he watched the people carry his human away. 

"Chill out buddy," The person holding him tucked him up against their shoulder. Midget let out another angry growl and dug his claws into the person's shoulder, "Ow! Damn it! Can you not? I am going to take you to the hospital with me and then you can be back with Tony... Alright?"

Tony. So that was what his human was called. It was a good name.

 

Tony woke in a place that was most definitely not the collapsed wearhouse. He was in a soft bed with blankets tucked neatly over him. A machine beeped steadily next to his head... A hospital. He was in a hospital.

"Welcome back, sleepy head," Tony looked over to see Pepper smiling at him from her seat next to the bad. Pepper fluffed his hair lovingly, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got crushed by a three ton slab of cement..." He joked half heartedly, even though that was exactly what had happened, "... How bad am I broken?"

Pepper sighed. 

"That bad huh?"

"Not the worst that has been done to you. Broken ribs, two stab wounds in your gut..."

"Oh yeah... the rebars," Tony recounted hauling the pillar off his abdomen and also pulling out two rebars out at the same time. He shuddered remembering the pain.

"They said you got lucky. One of them almost got your liver," Pepper's tone darkened, "They also said that you almost bled to death... Tony what the hell were you thinking pulling those things out?"

"I honestly wasn't really thinking... They were attached to the pillar of cement and when I lifted it off, it pulled the metal out," Tony explained.

"Well I suppose I can't really blame you then," Pepper said with a fond smile. Her eyes darted briefly to the end of the bed, and for the first time Tony noticed the small black ball of fluff curled up on the end of the bed.

"They let the cat in!?"Tony sat up, or more attempter to sit up, but sharp pulling pain stopped him, and he sat back with a groan. Pepper laughed.

"Well they didn't  _let_ him in per say. Steve pulled him off of you as we were moving you to the ambulance. The little guy threw a horrible temper tantrum until he was safely back with you," Pepper explained smiling at the cat. She scooped Midget up in her hands and handed him to Tony, "There you go."

The tiny black kitten yawned and opened its eyes.

"Hey little guy," Tony cooed looking into his adorable green eyes. The kitten purred and rubbed his head on his chin. The cat already looked healthier than when they had been trapped. His fur was now clean and well kept. His ribs still showed but that would be easy to fix with a few good meals.

"Thanks for taking care of me in there," Tony whispered and kissed the top of the cat's head. Midget purred louder.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos!


End file.
